It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Its land area is 73, km 2 28, sq mi. As of the census, Sierra Leone has a population of 8,, The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are further subdivided into 16 districts. Sierra Leone is a presidential republic , with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president. It is a secular state. Its constitution provides for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience which encompasses both freedom of thought and religion.
Notably, religious tolerance is very high: it is both a social norm and part of the nation's cultural identity. Sierra Leone's current territorial configuration was established in two phases: in , the coastal Sierra Leone Colony was founded as a place to resettle returning Africans after the abolition of the slave trade ; then in , the inland Protectorate was created as a result of the Berlin Conference of β This led to the formal recognition of the territory as the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate.
In , Stevens declared the APC to be the sole legally recognized party. In , he was succeeded by Joseph Saidu Momoh. Momoh's enactment of a new constitution in reintroduced a multi-party system.
That same year, a protracted civil war broke out between the government and the Revolutionary United Front RUF rebel group. Sierra Leone is a culturally diverse country, home to approximately 18 ethnic groups , with the Temne and Mende peoples being predominant.
The Creole people , descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean slaves and liberated Africans, constitute about 1. The country is rich with natural resources, notably diamonds, gold, bauxite and aluminium. As of the most recent survey in , Sierra Leone derives its name from the Lion Mountains near its capital, Freetown. Originally named Serra Leoa Portuguese for 'lioness mountains' by Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra in , the modern name is derived from the Venetian spelling, which was introduced by Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto and subsequently adopted by other European mapmakers.
